BY JOHN DAVIDSON
THE DEMISE of the Toronto Wolfpack in 2020 was a hammer blow for rugby league in Canada. But a plucky group of fans and amateur players are determined to ensure it is not the death knell for the sport in the Commonwealth.
They hope to do this with Masters Rugby League, a modified form of the game for those aged 35 and over.
The Wolfpack exposed a number of Canadians to rugby league for the first time and this passion has led to a growing movement of Masters Rugby League in Canada.
Masters has grown and with the planned staging of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in England, a national Canadian Masters team was formed and a tour to the UK launched.
While the World Cup might have been postponed until 2022, the Canada Grizzlies have made their way to England to play a series of matches and spread the gospel of the 13-man code.
At the heart of the Grizzlies and the Masters movement in Canadia is schoolteacher Nicholas Mew.
Exposed to the sport through attending a Wolfpack game four years ago, the support of this ‘super-fan’ has only grown.
“My personal involvement in rugby league came about as a result of four free tickets to see the Toronto Wolfpack play the Gloucestershire All Golds on July 8th, 2017,” Mew told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“They came from a man I didn’t know, but who had seen me express an interest on social media, and who happened to live in the same community as me, 100 km north of Toronto. That man is now not only my good friend, but a member of the Canada Grizzlies, and president of the Canada Rugby League Association (CRLA).
“That gift led to my purchasing season tickets, then a gradual taking on of more opportunities and roles on social media, bringing others to games, taking a coaching course, playing masters for the first time at age 50, and who knows what it will bring in the future.”
The Canada Grizzlies Masters were set up by the CRLA as a result of seeing an opportunity that arose through the 2021 World Cup.
With men’s, women’s, and wheelchair tournaments already taking place, the organizing body for Masters Rugby League in England suggested a corresponding festival of national masters teams. Canada was approached about taking part and the wheels were set in motion.
“The team is predominantly made of members of the Ontario Greybeards masters rugby league team, as it is currently the only registered team in Canada, but the selection criteria certainly had room for many others,” Mew explained.
“It was very much hoped that players from British Columbia and Alberta, where there are many amateur rugby league teams, would put their names forward.
“The committee felt it was a possibility up to half the national team could be from the west, which was exciting. While that wasn’t to be this time around due to only three applicants from British Columbia, we’re really hopeful future teams will have representatives from all six of Canada’s time zones.
“Masters Rugby League is really just starting in Canada, but it’s definitely growing. What we’ve found is that the more we play, no matter who the opponent, the more people see us and want to take part.
“They see guys who aren’t necessarily in the best of shape, across a wide age range, having a blast on the pitch and afterwards as well.
“From July to September when we were compelled to play a tag version of the sport, the Greybeards played the women of Ontario Rugby League, many of whom are also members of the Canada Ravens (the women’s national team), in a three-game series.
“Each of those games resulted in people coming out to watch, and signing up on the spot.
The Canada Grizzlies are currently in the UK on tour. After playing a warm-up game in Hunslet on Sunday, the Grizzlies will take part in another warm-up match in Warrington on Thursday before the Masters World Cup Festival kicks off in Leigh this weekend.
In the event Canada will play against the Masters nationals teams of England, Ireland and Wales.
Mew is hopeful the Festival will help spark more growth in his homeland and tours of other Masters teams to Canada.
“A number of teams in England have indicated they’re very interested in coming over to play us, and we are currently coordinating with Masters-level sports organization in Guelph, Ontario to hold a rugby league festival at their annual event, July 1st to 3rd,” he said.
“UK teams could come over, enjoy Canada Day fireworks and celebrations July 1st, play rugby league at a festival, tour parts of Canada, and experience our hospitality.
“We see this as another growth opportunity.
“An American Masters Rugby League body has been set up, and we’re looking forward to playing their teams. We’d also like to get the opportunity to play teams in British Columbia.
“There are rugby union old boys clubs who have expressed an interest in finding out more, and a couple of our players do both – league Masters and union old boys.
“The first iteration of the Ontario Greybeards included three players who are currently on the coaching staff of the new Toronto Wolfpack. Those three players were selected to play for the Grizzlies, but were compelled to withdraw due to existing commitments and personal circumstances.
“This connection gives us the opportunity to play ‘curtain raisers’ at future Wolfpack games in Toronto, which we did at the Canada Cup game on September 18, against the Ontario rugby league women.
“Bill Webb of the Toronto Arrows rugby union club in Major League Rugby has also spoken with us about ways to work together. This also might entail holding exhibition matches prior to Arrows games.”
The Wolfpack dropping out of Super League and going bust was a huge blow, not only to those involved with the club, but for its most passionate fans and rugby league lovers in Canada.
The move of Ottawa to Cornwall this year was another painful setback.
But Mew, and others like him in North America, remain optimistic and are pressing on. With Masters a seed of growth is being nurtured in Canada at the amateur level.
“The demise of the original Wolfpack and the relocation of Ottawa to Cornwall has been a gut punch,” he admitted.
“And I’m sure the former contributed significantly to the latter happening. It’s a shame that it will be more difficult to get new people out to see the game played live, but that’s a simple result of having fewer professional teams.
“The contrived report by Super League on the viability of Toronto as a market was utterly ridiculous, and the conclusions drawn were obviously decided before the report was written.
“Case in point: If you’re going to investigate the economic and sporting potential of a new market, would you not seek out the input of marketing professionals, businesses, and sports organizations in that area? Talk to the national governing body of the sport? Have meetings with political representatives? Of course you would.
“Did Super League? Of course not. But they did manage to rile up the anti-Toronto crowd by intentionally leaking that some important discussions with the potential new Wolfpack owner were done by car phone, hurting the feelings of some who felt this was a sign of disrespect.
“Had it been a UK club, and a UK businessman offering to take on the debts to keep a heritage club in existence, would the same decision have been made?
“In one sense it’s more of an opportunity lost for UK rugby league than it is for us. People have seen the potential of rugby league in Canada and the US, and are trying to find the right format and league structure to take it forward.
“That might be the North American Rugby League, or the Canada Co-Operative Championship Rugby League, or something else that hasn’t yet been formed, but efforts are being made.”
